“I’m still pinching myself," DeCosta said. "It has been a season of so many peaks and valleys, ups and downs. I’m really proud of our team that they could handle so much adversity in so many ways. We gelled at the right time. We have a team of really tough guys who are intelligent and detail oriented.

"They are guys who understand the game and play hard, and I’m just glad to be around this bunch. For us, this is a working week, we’ve got so many things to do. We just got back from the Senior Bowl. We’ve got meetings coming up in two weeks as well as the [NFL scouting combine.] Near the end of the week things will settle down and that’s when I think we might start to celebrate."